Just as you thought you knew all the Walkera copters.. boom they are at it again and this time they are aiming higher with a pro-sumer video copter. serious horse-power and a integrated camera system.
Click through for pictures, sample video and Bo's opinions.
UPDATE May 20 2015
I just talked with Walkera China, and got several things confirmed, as of todays date, Walkera do NOT have a 4K camera for the Voyager3, all voyagers being shipped at this time is clearly identified to the dealers as preproduction units, Walkera are asking dealers to acknowledge in writing that they understand there is no 4K camera included in the kit.
IF a dealer tell you that they have Voyager3 in stock with 4K camera.. sorry guys its simply not true.
Second, the production Voyager3 differs from the pre-pro units in that the props are self-tightening, "spin on" props. the pre-pro run have t-motor style props which is attached with two M3 screws.
Its unlikely that there will be shipping any Voyager3 with 4K camera until probably middle of June 2015.
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OK Guys... before I start, please note this is a draft file that I will be updating the next couple weeks. Walkera send me a pre-production Voyager 3 for the review, the sample arrived without the most important signature features.. the 4K camera and the new all important on-screen OSD system, and Walkera points out that the production units will have twist-on props.
The kit contained a sample 720p camera "looking" like the real thing.. but obviously nobody would spend 2K for a copter with a 720p camera. SOOOOO... lets give them the benefit of the doubt.. and I will start with the exterior pictures.. and some general thoughts while waiting for the most important bits to arrive.
EDIT: WOW after waiting forever.. the WALKERA ground-station for iPad is AVAILABLE NOW
EDIT: Walkera contacted me to let me know the PRODUCTION Voyager 3's will be having twist on props..!
Please feel free to post questions.
I will try to include as many answers as possible in the text while we wait for the rest of the bits.
THE Voyager 3 QUAD COPTER
If we ignore the blinding likeness to the DJI inspire for just a moment.. we are left with a intriguingly modular fresh quad copter design. the advantage of this is you can quickly remove the arms completely, remove 3 screws (use the 2mm hex wrench in the kit) and you can literally pop the arm, with motors, ESC and propellers right off. VERY convenient for traveling..
The copter use a slick modular 8S 6000mah battery.. giving it some serious zip. this is a powerful fast quad. and I can tell you already that it flies VERY good. Walkera claim 20-25 minutes of flight time, personally I find that batteries run just south of 20 minutes. I find that any battery that is more than 15 minutes easily cover everything I need personally.
We can't talk about the 8S battery without mentioning that there really is nobody doing anything with 8S batteries. HobbyKing only have a total of 4 8S battery types listed.. at the moment there is very little selection in the general market for 8S chargers.
The good news, the included 8S charger is fairly robust and unless you charge large batches of batteries, you should be fine with the stock charger.
The "LID" the Voyager3 have a awesome top shell, the entire thing can be removed for service with 6 screws in a matter of a minute or so.. and the lid is available in white, and also carbon-fiber look black. Im very happy with how easy it is to remove for service, I used to unscrew thirty some screws to crack open my TALI.
PS Walkera. Lets have a "FPV" lid, with a build in hard-mounted flight camera on the nose.
The Voyager 3 is a interestingly build quad.. its composed of a milled aluminum frame to hold the core components.. and cast plastic parts with back-side ripping for strength. Walkera have always been good at plastic parts, and the Voyager is no exception, the parts fit well and the airframe have a solid feel to it. unlike previous Walkera copters, the Voyager is kinda see-through, and with a flashlight you can see all the parts of the copter clearly.
Transmutable & Deformable...? FEAR NOT it works.
The Voyager 3 is breaking new ground for Walkera, by relocating the camera during flight to avoid seeing props and landing gear. this is a great move. Unfortunately in their excitement the Chinese language marketing department used words that don't entirely describe how this feature works..
Its really quite brilliant, when in the air, the Voyager retract the landing-gear, and drop the camera about 10cm to get a clear view of the world.
The dropping camera system is quite effective and is part of making the Voyager 3 a fairly competent professional system, Walkera's radios can be paired, and its possible to use a second F12e OR F7 radio with a build in screen, connect it to the pilots F12e radio and have a camera guy operate the pan and pitch of the camera..
*** the coolness of handing off the main camera, is one of the reasons there need to be a hard-mounted flight camera for the pilot to maintain orientation while the camera guy is flying the recording camera.
CAMERA 4K?
With the 4K integrated "ball cam" we are looking at Walkera's most ambitious camera to date. Everybody at Walkera know and will tell you "Its the Best of the Best of the BEST" But even Walkera seems at the moment to be not completely sure, a couple days ago it was quoted on the website as a 2 megapixel sensor (which quick math suggest to be a 1080p camera) however when I asked for more details, I was told its a 10megapix camera (THAT sounds really good) But checking the website today its saying 4608x3456 pixels, thats roughly a 15megapix camera.. again that sounds very good and I would suspect the fact the numbers are getting a bit more accurate suggests this may be actual sensor info.
Unfortunately, 4K @ 15fps for a aerial camera is basically completely useless for professionals.
Film and video professionals NEED 24 / 25 / 30 FPS at the very minimum.
The new "Twist lock" mounting interface is well made and feel solid, you need to get use to aligning the two bars on the tube so it slide in, after that its push and twist to install the camera.
Maybe the most important update for me, this morning, I got a email telling me that Walkera is adding a GoPro gimbal to the Voyager 3 shipping options.. thats GREAT news, because I can shoot my modified GoPro with the 5.4mm lens and get my favorite 2.7k resolution from the full sensor for the best quality in a small file. it also means, we should expect to see a Voyager GoPro RTF kit for about $300 less than the 4K camera kit.
APM & MISSION PLANNER
Walkera use the OpenSource APM flight-controller, its a advanced system and you can write big missions with countless waypoints.
The APM flight-controller can also do all the required tricks for modern multi rotors.
Stock flight-modes are
Manual
GPS / LOITER You can fly in your flight completely in GPS if you like, from takeoff to landing.
RTH (Return to Home)
In addition with the F12e handset / radio, the Voyager is setup from the factory to perform several tricks, such as "Auto Take-off" "Fly around object" "intelligent orientation"
The Auto-Take off is essentially a small mission that is triggered with the flip of a switch, this feature will bring the quad to a hover at about 10 feet above the start point. you can take over and keep flying from there.
Fly around object, is a feature that makes the quad fly sideways around a circle, (you can define the radius on your F12e radio) the quad will fly with the camera facing the center of the circle.
ADVANCED MISSION PLANNER
Walkera have gotten line with international law requiring a Safety Pilot, being able to take control from a automatic mission and manually fly the aircraft if required. The Voyager 3 feature one switch control transfer from your Android Tablet (or laptop) back to the F12e for a safety pilot.
This is a very important feature, as the Voyager can then in most places legally be used for survey missions for land-planners, farmers and construction, all of these kinda missions require in most parts of the world support for "safety pilot". The Voyager3 is the first product from Walkera to legally be mission ready.
Follow Me.... Yes it works... But?
One of the "check box" features everybody advertise is "Follow Me", its a awesome concept, put the thing in the air, wrap a arm around your girlfriend and start walking down the beach in the romantic sunset... while your obedient drone provide the perfect video documentation for your FB account.
Or maybe.. imagine yourself on top of the mountain.. push the start button on the controller and the drone capture your epic snowboard run, and maybe the wipeout in gory 4K details, we are talking instant viral YouTuBE 250million views hit.
Right.. so we all want to believe. no really I DOOO want to believe.. but lets get real here for a moment. the GPS system in your crap-gadget Android tablet SUCKS big time.. seriously, you all know that you have been sitting at Designer Coffehaus, trying to yelp your fashion coffee choices.. and for some reason the crap-tablet claim you are at the lowly StarBicks down the street.. (don't tell me that have never happened to you)
Where am I going with this rant? Its very simple, if your tablet sometimes is not 100% accurate.. you really do not want it to control a flying weed trimmer with 15inch carbon fiber props that will trim 1/2 branches cleanly.
YES the Voyager3 do "Follow Me" the feature is in the APM firmware, however, unless you have TOP notch tablet / portable computing equipment with great GPS systems, you might want to think twice before turning the Voyager 3 into your personal drone stalker. Remember, if Follow-Me turns ugly, you got a flying weedwacker chasing you that you can't outrun........
Follow Me is a awesome feature, but make sure you know what you are doing and have top quality gear when using this feature, its NOT for beginners. Nuff said.
FPV ready? Mjah not really
In all fairness, EVERYBODY call everything FPV these days, we had that conversation with the TALI and SCOUT already. these things are NO FPV aircrafts. they are flying cameras with a screen to see the video signal.
FPV stands for "First Person View" and is currently a niche sport, of RC pilots flying mini quads, fixed wing airplanes, cars and trucks, using GOGGLES, getting the feeling of being in the aircraft while flying. important features for successful FPV flying is a hard-mounted flight-camera, so the pilot can see / feel the movement of the aircraft. flying FPV with a gimbal camera is very challenging, and I would strongly encourage all manufactures to start considering adding a dedicated "flight camera" to products they advertise as FPV ready.
For me that means I WILL be drilling a hole in the nose and installing a 700tvl FatShark flight-camera. this will be the camera I hook up to the integrated video transmitter.
OSD------ *I have not yet seen the OSD module...
THIS is huge news for Walkera, until now we have had no native goggle flights options, and walkera users have been forced to modify OSD systems to fit the Walkera products. This time Walkera have put a genuine OSD system on the Voyager 3, that is a "On Screen Data" system, that give you speed, height, distance to home, GPS coordinates and typically a HOME "compass" pointer that tells you the direction to home.
*** The new Walkera OSD is also showing up in the 350ultimate (the other important Walkera quad this year)
The Look alike... and the missing drift camera.
OUCH.. so its awkward to talk about.. but we can't talk about the Walkera Voyager 3, without realizing that it look a LOT like the DJI inspire-1, amazing how quickly DJI managed to make a copy of the Voyager.. or is it the other way around? In all fairness, most of the technology we see in the Voyager is stuff Walkera have been working on for a good while already, but I suspect the release of the inspire at least partially affected the package Walkeras new parts got wrapped into..
There is no doubt some of the Walkera designers looked long and hard at the Inspire, the Voyager feature a dummy plastic panel "ultra sound and drift camera module". A lot of people would have been very happy if Walkera HAD in fact included a working ultrasound to retract the camera and manage altitude close to the ground, along with a Drift camera to lock the position at low altitude.
Lets get real here, the drift cam and 720p lightbridge feature are probably the two main reasons we are saving about $600-800 on the Voyager (depending what option you buy it as). you can have a less than $2000 BNF voyager and use it with your F12e radio, the entry price point for a inspire is $2800 and up.
PS... Walkera is a modern technology company, they make high-tech, and have already demonstrated and sold quads with ultra-sound obstacle avoidance, so I'm a bit surprised they did not toss than into the top of the line Voyager 3 product. In that regard I am very excited to see what they do with technologies they have already made in the future.
Normally I really don't like "comparing" but because of the design and features, everybody feel the Voyager is a "inspire clone" its hard to miss that they look a lot alike, fly the "same" 4K camera, and can both be had with a second controller for the camera guy.. so for once maybe its justified to take a quick look at the feature differences.
For its $2800 price tag the Inspire is the benchmark and provide a couple "next gen quad" features, features that may OR may not, be worth the additional $600+ the baseline inspire cost above the stock Voyager's price tag at $2200.
Ultrasound lowering / retract of landing gear.
low-level drift camera to supplement the GPS system when indoor or under tree-canopy.
DJI's LightBridge system which on the Inspire provide 720p video for the camera operator
DJI's LightBridge system which provide bidirectional digital control input
4K camera with rectilinear lens for high grade video
DRAFT Conclusion
Well its hard to conclude anything about a flying camera platform missing the final camera.
That said.. I have been flying a couple batteries through the Voyager3 already. Its a great quad, potent motors and easy flying behavior in general.
To be perfectly honest, had the Voyager 3 included a ultra-sound / drift camera module and a 25 and 30fps 4K camera, it would easily have been a phenomenal value for $2200, but without the drift-cam, well its still good value and feels like a lot of solid solutions, but its not a lot of "next gen copter stuff".
As it is, I would prefer a $1800 Voyager with a great GoPro gimbal, that would be a no-brainer for me, the $2200 feels a bit much for a camera thats not really blowing my GoPro black away.
Feature wise:
Pros:
360 pan camera operation
Camera can retract for protection when landing
Modular one-piece system camera with build in gimbal
Camera system is click-connect
20 minute flight time
New dual GPS system.
Modular 8S battery system free of wires
Modular, easy to disassemble for transport.
Great travel case, best Walkera case ever.
OSD - first Walkera product with the all important OSD.
F12e radio with build in video reception.
Mission Planner for some android tablets..
iPad ground station finally have arrived..
Negatives:
Heavy at 3550grams flight weight (measured on my office scale)
Nobody sell 8S chargers.. how do I get a travel charger for my car?
STOP putting lights on batteries.. make the more complex and expensive.
Camera is not blowing away the GoPro 4 or the Inspire-1
No finger screws, expect to spend 15 minutes putting screws in when assembling the Voyager
Dummy ultra-sound / drift cam panel?
Travel Case need hard-foam insert.
Android software only work on some Android tablets
Walkera makes a GoPro edition of the Voyager3, I would pick that one over the stock camera. however I dont know if they are interchangeable
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 06/14/2016 at 12:34 PM
Can you just swap over a 4K walkera camera to a go pro gimbal on the voyager 3 without any problems? Thanks
Posted by: Steven botwright | 06/14/2016 at 11:55 AM
Hey Ian, the camera is powered from the Voyager 3 directly.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 05/30/2016 at 02:22 PM
Great review. I'm having trouble with my 4K camera....can u tell me if the camera is always powered directly from the drone battery or does it need to be separately charged through the mini USB connection? Thanks
Ian
Posted by: Ian Gosling | 05/27/2016 at 05:51 AM
Hey Patrick, Walkera are selling those, shoot a email to Walkera.com 's customer service.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 01/19/2016 at 05:05 PM
Does anyone know how I can get my hands on just the gopro gimbal for this
Posted by: Patrick | 01/18/2016 at 12:00 PM
I just found out that the inspire 1 has a new flight program that is similar to the voyager 3. I would love to see a comparison on both copters and see how each of their new setups compare.
Posted by: Matt | 12/14/2015 at 05:34 PM
Hey Matt, unfortunately Walkera have not put together a updated Voyager 3, we are still on the original one, that unfortunately mean no solid POI or follow-me flying. at least not at this time. Im really hoping for something more solid from Walkera in the spring as their lineup right now is sadly missing a serious video platform.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 12/06/2015 at 06:23 PM
Hey Matt, unfortunately Walkera have not put together a updated Voyager 3, we are still on the original one, that unfortunately mean no solid POI or follow-me flying. at least not at this time. Im really hoping for something more solid from Walkera in the spring as their lineup right now is sadly missing a serious video platform.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 12/06/2015 at 06:23 PM
Hey Bo, I have seen a few reviews on the Voyager 3 but yours was by far the best. I cant wait to see your review of the final version and it flying. I am looking for a drone for doing photos. I like the follow me and circle me. I am looking forward to see how well it does the different actions on film. Does it circle smooth and keep the object in frame or is the picture changing as it course corrects every 10 feet as it circles or follows. I like the inspire 1 but it doesn't follow me or circle me. But if the action isn't smooth or of any quality on the voyager, the money might be better spent on the Inspire 1. Can't wait to see your review. Great job...
Posted by: Matt | 12/06/2015 at 01:18 AM
Hey Maxim, no worries, totally agree with you this is a disappointment, as it is today, the P3 pro or the Yuneec 4K are far superior quads at the moment.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 09/28/2015 at 03:50 PM
Wow ..... what a dissapoitment for me . Thats a bummer . I was hoping to buy it. It was either Phantom 3 , or this . Voyager seemed more advanced and sexy at the same time . Thank you for such a fast , dissapointing Clarification on this Drone . I left the same comment on your youtube video ( sorry) But , thanks Mr.Lorentzen!
Posted by: Maxim | 09/28/2015 at 12:56 PM
Hey Maxim, I don't think there is any confusion. it seems Walkera have discontinued the Voyager3, I don't think there is any full spec units on the market.
the 4K camera never materialized, and i have not yet seen one with twist on props. Basically I would not recommend buying the Voyager3 at this point.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 09/28/2015 at 12:45 PM
Hey guys, so im going crazy for the answer for the following questions ..... Some are saying its out but its not a final version some say its the final , some websites are selling it , very little videos on youtube .Is the walkera site that sells it , final or not ? SO IS THE VOYAGER OUT WITH ITS FINAL VERSION OR NOT ?! 4k camera ? self tightening props? Why is it so confusing ??? I dont want to buy something that is a "pre" crap . And question number 2 is ... Im googling parts for this thing and the World Wide Web is EMPTY .only managed to find spare battery for $280..... Hard to find parts for it ? Red Flag ?? Thanks .
Posted by: Maxim | 09/28/2015 at 12:18 PM
Hey Derk, Unfortunately the camera on the Voyager can't be adjusted with date.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 09/20/2015 at 07:59 AM
Hi Bo, do you have any information how to correct the date and time stamp on the Walkera Camera?
Mine is showing December 31 1979 and I cannot change the date whatever I tried.
Thanks, Derk
Posted by: Derk Somsen | 09/19/2015 at 11:29 PM
Hey Ryan, there are TWO bluetooth units, you need to specify Android or iOS when you order.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 07/08/2015 at 07:55 AM
Do you know if it is compatible with the iPad because I just go my Voyager 3 in and it is not picking up the BT thanks
Posted by: Ryan | 07/07/2015 at 01:09 PM
OUCH Håkon, thats not good news.
Well there are a number of things that can be fixed hopefully. make sure the antennas are screwed in correctly. next try toggling the frequency on the transmitter or the receiver, if you only get B&W you are probably off by one channel.
You should have a circular polarizer antenna on both the Voyager and on the radio. If the radio antenna is not attached correctly, then you only get particle signal and it could be B&W.
There is a problem with the video transmitter, it is sitting in the little box on the belly of the Voyager.. several of them have over-heated and stopped working, mine is going to snow probably because of the heat there.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 05/19/2015 at 04:43 PM
Hi!
I just bought Voyager 3 from the United States. Living in Norway, but who know such things are so expensive that it pays to buy abroad. Enough about that. I have to wait for over a month at the Voyagers. Got it today and for a disappointment. Gimbal is not working. Getting only black / white on the screen no color. Video link antenna on the remote control can not I get screwed in.
Can it be that there are Gimbal that there's something wrong with. Or it may simply be because I do not get screwed antenna clears?
Been away in similar cases? What can possibly be done to fixe it.
Greeting Håkon L
Posted by: Håkon Levorsen | 05/19/2015 at 05:52 AM
@Christian - I had a lot of one-on-one time with the hexa Voyager3, particularly the one design is pretty sweet. but right now walkera is having a lot of issues with the Voyager 3, I would hold off and consider a 350premium that can lift the same and can be converted to X8 if you want something really sexy. wait on the Voyager3 until actual production units start shipping and people have owned and flown them in a couple months. the units shipping now is pre-production units, and as far as I can tell, roughly 50% of the ones I know about have crashed.. That is way too high a number.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 05/11/2015 at 09:50 AM
First off I must say I do love all your reviews and how thorough you get with each one, so thanks very much for doing so. One of the questions I have about the voyager 3 is I've heard news about walkera possibly offering 2-3 possible versions of the V3. Do you know anything about that? Is it true? Ive seen in a video on YouTube that they maybe offering a hexacopter version of the V3. My greatest interest would be with the V3 hex... Please any and all information of which would be highly appreciated!
Sincerely,
-Christian
Posted by: Christian | 05/09/2015 at 11:04 AM
Hey Moreno's Studios, not entirely sure, but I would say 30mph is a good guess.
Sorry, there is no carbon-fiber, its all plastic with water transfers.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 04/23/2015 at 11:26 PM
Great review and videos! Wondering if anyone knows what the flight speed of the Voyager 3 is? Also is any part of the craft made of Carbon Fiber or is it all plastic with a carbon fiber look?
Thanks
Posted by: Moreno's Studios | 04/23/2015 at 11:49 AM
Hey Peter, the generic camera options is kinda a two side sword. simply because most of those gimbals never end up being as good as the dedicated ball-cameras.
But I agree with you, it would be nice to have easier access to picking any camera.
Posted by: Bo Lorentzen | 04/21/2015 at 03:10 PM